Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-11-01

|
| To learn the Princess whereabouts.
wThe foregoing promises will be kept solely
on condition that no effort is made either to
rescue horor TO discover any thing whatever
with regard to her.
Gas regards immediate communication, II
that be necessary, telegraph cipher-ds'
patch to tho same papers, with the request
to insert the cipher-message in their next
| ssues.n
Both ladies' were Mortified and astOnished
at the enormity and daring of this deeply
laid plan, They could scarcely believe the
evidence Of their senses that such bold az
fair had actually taken place in district so
populous and carefully guarded. 1t seemed
impossible, and yet the proof OF it lay in Nat
niles absence and tho two notes.
CHAPTER XII
| TOO LATE
The storm was now raging in its full
force The rain, in perfect torrents, was
driving against the chateau walls. Tho
wind howled about the house-corners and
down the chimneys. Peal after peal Of
deafening thunder rang through the
heavens, and the lightning in binding
flashes seemed never to cease. The en-
tire house was in state Of wild confl-
sion and alarm, and each servant was
rushing aimlessly around, questioning tho
other.
Dimitri and Catherine swore that tho
Princess quilted her painting only q
few minutes before they themselves left
the terrace They exhibited the picture,
moist with frcshly-laid colors, as proof Of
her work during tho afternoon.
| Neither man nor maid had seen nor heard
/ ~. ,rrl 1Na hn 1riN-
they passed no persons, excepting some
carters and wayfaring pedestrian -
all men well known in the neighborhood.
II these persons had witnessed any thing
strange they surely would have spoken
Of it.
"Stayi Dimitril' said Catherine, with a
sudden inspiration; "do you remember
noticing something queer"
Dimitri reflected q moment. Said he: :
ado you mean that whistleln
ayes" was her reply; "and do you re-
member that spoke to you about it and
asked what it vast"
"You arc right" said he, "and the first
whistle sounded only few moments after
| tho Princess VENT
"Yes,n continued the eager girl, land
| the second was blown after We left the
| carriers and that farmer, this side Of the
pool They were all fellows living about
| here, going to st. Malo with vegetables for
| the market tomorrow. / think they must
| be at the inn for shelter from the rain.
You'd better jump on your horse and run
down and question them"
Suiting the action to the word, Dimitri
hurried off.
| Lydia's common sense told her that in all
probability Natalie was now far beyond
rescue Something in the franlness and
general tenor of the two notes led her to
feel that no harm would befall her friend.
That 1t was no ordinary brain which had
| achieved the deed, she was fully convinced.
| Every thing went to prove this-tho very
holiness of tho scheme itself, tho notes,
their general tone and language, Although
nearly broken-hcarted over the affair, she
| believed il quite useless even to institute o
Search
~ 1ihai s CT the housello'' were for sere
| ing out Immediately to search the neighbor-
hood and discover some trace of the lost
Princess. All tho available males were
accordingly pressed into the service, and
sent out TO scour the country in every direc
| ton. The first objective point, Of course
was tho road in the vicinity of the pool.
| But not the slightest clue could there be
discovered. The heavy rains had obliterated
! Ril tho wheol-traclis made by the wagon
| into the wood, where the Princess had first
| been carried. Searching far and wide, they
| could find positively nothing in the way Of a
trace OF their lost mistress.
| Meanwhile, Dimitri returned from an in.
torview with the cartors, and these individ-
uals all agreed in saying that they had seen
q horscwoman emerge from the cliff road
and ride rapidly toward the village on the
public road. From their description OF tho
woman and her horse, it could be none other
than tho Princess herself.
They mot with no stranger, excepting
huntsman who hailed them near the cliff
road, and got them all into some angry
dispute with regard to the land thereabouts.
They, too, observed tho loud whistle, but
supposed it that OF some hunter calling his
dogs.
Ere Dimitri left the inn, farmer also
! living in the neighborhood, entered,
drenched through and through by the
storm. On his way to st, Malo, he had Boz
come alarmed at the severity of the storm,
and, supposing it an all-nght affair, turned
back to the inn Of the village
Dimitri remembered meeting with him,
Just after Catherine and himself passed the
pool.
Hero now was q clue.
The wagoners were not TO be diverted
from their idea that they saw the Princess
going toward the pool.
Had this farmer, on the opposite side of the
pool, seen herr No, he had not. He saw
no one excepting a stranger whom he found
sitting by the roadside. This man and him
self enjoyed long talk about crops-a talk
of perhaps one quarter of an hour in length.
No woman passed them. OF that he was
Sure-at least no woman excepting tho one
with that man, pointing TO Dimitri and
referring, of course, to Catherine He, too,
observed the sharp calls Of the whistle.
Lydia listened quietly to Dimitri's story.
Here, at last, was trace to Natalie-the
only clue, perhaps, to her disappearance.
"Send for all the wagoners and the farm
or, immediately said sho, authoritatively
The dripping band Of peasants soon APP
pcared in tho hail. little riyulcts tricl1ling
down from their drenched garments and
covering tho floor with miniature ponds.
They stood huddled together, awe-struck
and awkward.
Questioning them, Lydia found TINT Nata-
lie must havo been lost between the wagon
crs ON one side of the pool and the farmer
on tho other side; and, therefore, In tho
neighborhood Of and very probably at, the
pool itsolf; and that tho stranger who
| convcrsed with tho farmer and also tho
huntsman who disputed with tho cartors,
wore, undoubtedly, accessories to the abb
duction Tor they both disappeared almost
Immediately after tho second whistle.
Tho wngonors said that tho first call was
heard just before they saw the Princess.
The mystory of Natalio's disappearance
now became clear to Lydia.
Tho huntsman-ahl would she have be-
heyed her cars had she been told who he
wasl-must have been on tho watch for tho
poor girl. Tho warning signal of her ap-
prouch toward tho abductors wns tho first
blast of his whistle. This, too, warned tho
| outpost on the opposite side Of the pool and
both outposts stopped all passengers upon
the road, thus preventing interference with
tho capture Of Natalie.
AS soon us the Princess had been secured.
her captors, in turn, gave tho signal TO their
accomplices that tho deed was done and tho
coast clear
Unless Natalie was stll in the noighbor-
hood Of the poolwhich was highly improb.
ablo-shc must have been carried toward